The present disclosure relates to an ejector used in an air conditioner. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an ejector configured to allow drawn refrigerant to form a swirl flow and an air conditioner having the same.
In general, an ejector may be used as a pressure reducing device for using in a vapor compression refrigeration cycle apparatus. Such an ejector has a nozzle section for decompressing refrigerant. The ejector is configured to draw a gaseous refrigerant discharged from an evaporator by a suction operation of the refrigerant ejected from the nozzle section. The ejector is configured so that the ejected refrigerant and the drawn refrigerant are mixed in a mixing portion, the pressure of the mixed refrigerant is increased in a diffuser, and then the mixed refrigerant is discharged to the outside of the ejector.
Accordingly, the refrigeration cycle apparatus having an ejector as the pressure reducing device (hereinafter, referred to as an ejector type refrigeration cycle) can reduce power consumption of the compressor by using the pressure increasing operation of the refrigerant that is generated in the diffuser of the ejector, and can raise coefficient of performance of the cycle than the refrigeration cycle apparatus using an expansion valve as the pressure reducing device.
The conventional ejector having a linear mixing portion needs to have a sufficient length of mixed portion to cause the main flow of a linear current to be mixed thoroughly with the suction flow. However, if the length of the mixing portion is increased, the total length of the ejector is also increased, so it is difficult to reduce the size of the refrigeration cycle apparatus.
Accordingly, in order to reduce the length of the ejector there is a need to reduce the length of the mixing portion. When forming a swirl flow in the nozzle section of the ejector, it is possible to reduce of the length of the mixed portion.
An example of the ejector using a swirl flow is disclosed in an U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0033790.
However, in the ejector disclosed in the above-mentioned patent application, while the swirl flow passes through the nozzle section, the velocity component in a swirling direction mostly disappears and the velocity component in the linear direction is increased. Accordingly, it is difficult to expect that the swirl flow is generated on the surface of a conical member so that reducing the length of the mixing portion is difficult.